Lakers Thunder game 3

One last time we can thank the lockout for the joys of a condensed schedule — the Lakers and Thunder are going to play the rare playoff back-to-back the next two nights. Which clearly favors the younger legs and better athletes of the Thunder. It’s going to be a lot harder for the Lakers to…

Kevin Durant is being treated like basketball royalty today — he stepped up like a superstar should. With the game on the line, he asked to cover the other team’s best player. He went mano a mano with Kobe Bryant. That takes stones. He deserves the praise. And the Thunder won. That is ultimately how…

Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook earns no bonus points for beating Derek Fisher off the dribble — that’s a gimme — but he does for knifing through the Lakers big men and throwing it down over Lamar Odom. Respect My Authoritah! Our own Matt Moore breaks down exactly how this came about over at Hardwood Paroxysm.…

Drowned out in all the noise in Oklahoma City was another milestone for Kobe Bryant — on a third-quarter 16-foot jumper he passed Jerry West to become the all time leading playoff scorer. Bryant now has 4,465 points scored in the playoffs, putting him eight in front of West. Earlier this season he passed West…

Everyone expected this to be a series of close games, of exciting finishes. In the end, it would be the team with the calm demeanor, the team that played like they seen pressure like this a thousand times and knew how to handle it that was going to win. Oklahoma City, of course. Thursday —…

Dear reader, I apologize for this in advance, but forces beyond my control compel me to do this. I wish I could show you something less frightening, like the spiderwalk scene in the Exorcist. Or Betty White naked. But I cannot. The Lakers are staying in the legendary haunted hotel in Oklahoma City. But there…